~ Book Reviews

Afterworlds, by Scott Westerfeld

Okay, I loved this book… Or rather, this novel is two books in one, with each story alternating between chapters.

The first is the story of Lizzie, a teenage girl who brushes so closely to death that she becomes a part of it… Or rather, a part of him, as she falls in love with the mysterious death God Yamaraj.

The second story is of Darcy Patel, author of the YA novel Afterworlds mentioned above, and her entrance in the world of writing.
The resume is incredibly crude, to say the least. The stories are a lot more complex and intertwine beautifully.

This book raises a hilarious discussion on YA authors and their concerns, and how quickly they fall in love and how far young writers can go in their obsession of writing. Everyone who’s spent some time on the NaNoWriMo forums can recognize the inside jokes in Darcy’s story. It’s great and I laughed out loud many times.

I almost gave the story a lower rating because I didn’t like Lizzie’s story as much as Darcy’s, but the overall structure is so wonderful. You get to hear of different endings for Afterworlds, and Darcy spoils some plot points her own book before you understand she rewrote some of it after all. It’s so well crafted that it’s probably my favourite book this year.
It’s funny, so please don’t take this book super seriously. There’s satire throughout, and if you squint, you can see where Scott Westerfeld probably snickered as he wrote. It’s also got such a high level of meta fiction and self-awareness.

I highly recommend this book, although to non-writers or those who don’t crawl through writer’s forums, it might fall a bit flat. I’m nevertheless super impressed with Westerfeld, and I might look into other books of his, since I had really liked Uglies, and now, Afterworlds.
The ebook is currently heavily discounted on Kobo and Kindle!! Go get it while it’s at an amazing price.